And In This Corner: Fedor loses to Werdum…or does he?

Let me state one thing right off the top, I am a novice MMA fan. I just got into the sport a few years ago. Almost all of my exposure has been through the UFC programming on Spike. I’ve seen next to no Pride shows. I catch some of the Japan super cards on HDNet ever once in awhile, the shows where guys actually break each others arm and dislocate elbows because no one wants to tap.

I don’t know the history of every fighter and what their won/loss record is in every organization they have ever fought in. But I have two eyes, and an over active imagination. And after watching Fedor Emelianenko tap out to Fabricio Werdum on Saturday night in the main event of the Strikeforce show, I was initially shocked and amazed just like everyone else. But once I thought about it a little bit, I made a rather large and possibly insane leap to come to the conclusion that everything played out exactly as planned.

First let’s look at how the fight played out. As I watched the fight unfold, all 1:09 of it, it really reminded me of the first Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir fight. Lesnar dropped Mir and immediately rushed in for the kill. He rushed in so fast however, that he left himself wide open for a submission hold by Mir. At the time people chalked it up to Lesnar’s inexperience in the ring. In their second fight, Lesnar was more patient and didn’t allow Mir to trap him, along the way to completely dominating the fight. On Saturday night, Fedor made the exact same mistake Lesnar did, not once but twice. He dropped Werdum right away and rushed in for the kill. Werdum went right away for Fedor’s arm, and almost got it. Fedor managed to get his arm free and you would think that he would do something to adjust his position after coming so close to being caught. But what does “The Last Emperor”, the best pound for pound fighter in the world, the greatest fighter of his generation, do…nothing at all. He stays right there so Werdum can lock in a triangle choke. Like I said, I am a novice, but that was one of the deepest and tightest chokes I’ve ever seen by the way. How could Fedor, who has years of experience and a wealth of skills at his disposal, make such a rookie mistake? Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t a mistake at all. Maybe it all went exactly the way he wanted it to.

Wait a minute here, am I really saying that Fedor allowed himself to be caught? Yes, yes I am. And it all comes down to one word, M-O-N-E-Y. I have heard people say that by losing he cost himself millions of dollars he could have made by signing with the UFC. In my opinion, Fedor was never going to sign with the UFC. The way he and M-1 make deals would put Scott Boras to shame. They would never enter into an agreement with Dana White without major concessions, the kind that White could never make no matter how much he wanted Fedor. In Strikefore, like Affliction before it, Fedor can call his own shots. Those promotions are so starved for a lifeline they would concede anything to M-1. I really don’t believe Fedor is interested in proving anything at this point in his career, I feel he wants to make sure he gets paid. And that leads me to my last point.

Fedor had one more fight on his Strikeforce contract, and popular opinion had they fight against Alistair Overeem for the title. Immediately after the fight, Werdum said he wanted his next fight to be a rematch against Fedor, not a shot at Overeem. Why on earth would Werdum risk another Fedor fight, unless that was the plan all along? Instead of one more fight for Fedor he now has the rematch with Werdum, which I think he wins of course. Then he gets the title shot against Overeem, another win. Next comes the rubber match with Werdum, followed by a possible rematch with Overeem.

Fedor Emelianenko may have lost Saturday night, but not in dominating fashion mind you. He wasn’t bludgeoned for five rounds, he didn’t quit on the stool, he wasn’t overmatched by a superior opponent, he was just careless. He lost in a way that most people could consider a fluke, a mistake in judgment on his part. If he had been knocked out by a lucky punch that would be a fluke too, but would have raised questions about his chin. Now he loses and no one can really question his manhood, especially after he dominates the rematch, like I think he will.

And low and behold, one more fight on an expiring contract has now turned into four mega fights with huge paydays. And all Fedor had to do was swallow his pride and allow himself to lose, just once.

Vince DeHoratus lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two kids. He has been a life long wrestling fan and he has passed that love onto his son. Though not quite yet “middle aged and crazy”, he is fast approaching it.

Eric is the owner and editor-in-chief of the Camel Clutch Blog. Eric has worked in the pro wrestling industry since 1995 as a ring announcer in ECW and a commentator/host on television, PPV, and home video. Eric also hosted Pro Wrestling Radio on terrestrial radio from 1998-2009. Check out some of Eric's work on his IMDB bio and Wikipedia. Eric has an MBA from Temple University's Fox School of Business.

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